Cameras aren’t supposed to be toys, right? Well, you could have fooled people at NAB as they watched Swedish cameraman Johan Hellsten walk around the floor bouncing a camera on what could only be called a bungie cord. You’d horrify any serious shooter, if you called it that, however. Because the Easyrig is their lifesaver. The “cord” is really the conduit that houses a spring/winding mechanism. It provides the tension between a harness-type vest and a camera that reduces the static load on the neck/shoulder muscles and distributes it to other parts of the body that are better able to handle it.

“When you are shooting reality television or documentaries where you often get only one shot at a moment’s notice, the camera has to be ready at all times,” says a new Easyrig convert, Brian Tweedt SOC. “I just got the Easyrig and it literally saved my life, as I was shooting a reality documentary called 4th and Forever, about the Long Beach football team. We were using the RED, which is front-heavy and even stripped down weighs between 28-32 pounds, as we followed the players through their lives for about 45 days.

“With the Easyrig, I could stand around, keeping the weight of the camera on my hips instead of my shoulders, and when something happened have the camera up and shooting at a moment’s notice.”

The Easyrig allows for the speed and mobility of a handheld camera, while still achieving steady shots from the shoulder, hip or even knee level.

Johan Hellsten’s Easyrig is available in the United States at MSPR $2800.